Martinsburg daily gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1887-1887, 1887-04-06
AN OUTRAGEOUS SYSTEM.
REPORT or THE ILLINOIS STATE
BOARD or LABoE STATISTICS.

Fines Imposed Upon Employees 30 severe
and Oppressive - to Deprive Them Of
the Means Of Paying Their Board Bills.
The Small Wages Of Children.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill, April 5-The report Of
the Illinois state board of labor statistics,
which will soon be ready for distribution,
states that the system Of exacting fines for
delfnquencies IS practically in vogue in all
the large retail houses Of Chicago, and that
In some instances it Is made 20 severe and
oppressive as to deprive employees Of the
means of paying board bills The commits
sioners say that the rapid progress which
sion for deep concssIi The filming system
was introduced to CHECK abssnteeism, but IN
every case it has only exaggerated and in
creased the evil.
The first case investigated deserving mem
ton is an establishment dong general
merchandise business and employing $40
clerks. Two are adult males, I'D adult fe-
males sixty -nine boys under fifteen ye ars Of
age, and eighty-five girls under fifteen years
Of age. '.Cash girls, mostly children under
fourteen years OF age, state that they get
but - per wee.z, are fined for eve ny mistake,
for laughing, talking, or for not flying
around fast enough to suit the floor walker.
Fines on cash girls range from five totwenty
cents Saleswomen are fined for various of
lenses. One young lady had laughed and
was fined twenty-five cents She said the
amount Of fines depended principally upon
the ''foor-walkers, of which there are about
sixty. 1t is stated that floor walkers are
expected to fine employees at least the amount
OF their .alarles per week. This is doubtless
an exaggeration that ha; grown up in tn
minds Of employees, yet one man told tIs
commissioner he had beel discharged from =
mercantile house as a ..hoor- walker for mo-
filming enou I'll.
One young lady made out the following
statement for the bureau: The way III
which the employees are fined in some of our
largest stores has become outrageous. wall
give you few facts that have come under
my observation during the time have bee.i
in this store. One young lady has workei
just two months, during which time she had
been tined ninety-tive cents, having been
fined from ten TO twenty cents each time for
errors in sales books. Another girl, who wa
receiving but So per week and paying 81 for
board and sixty cents week for car fare,
was fined 81 for an error in her sales booa.
Another girl was fined twenty-five cents TO-
accidentally squeaking tile door~ of a. shoA-
case Another was tinei twenty-five cents
for eating piece of ice during very warm
iay in midsummer Another was fined
twenty cents for numming while clean
ing stock Another fly cents for breaking
a glass in picture frame which sells fol
thirty-five cents. So far as factories are
concerned it was revealed that in this inves-
tigation that only females are fined, men will
not stand it.
The filming system was found to be univer
sal among the Hotels and restaurants OF Chi
cago, and the investigation disclosed the
fact that the fines for breakage range from
two to four times tie value of the article
broken A distressing state of things was
found to exist in the cloak factories. One
manufacturer told the commissioner that he
had persistently refused to employ girls that
came from rival factory, not only because
of inferior workmanship, but because of their
moral character. He looked upon that house
as hell through which to run young girls
to prepare them for street walkers.
One witness stated that he heard the pro-
prietorof the factory marked ''Hn say that
if the girls in his factory did not earn enough
in the shop to pay their board. they might
make the rest up at night on the street "